Japan halts JBS-Swift beef shipments

Japan on Oct. 29 halted imports of beef produced at JBS-Swift’s Grand Island, Neb., plant after Japanese inspectors reportedly found nine boxes of thymus glands lacking documentation that they were harvested from cattle 20 months old or younger.

A report on meatingplace.com said the shipments, which violate a bilateral trade agreement between the United States and Japan, were a “technical violation” of that agreement but “not a health-related matter and the product is legal to trade in the United States and many other countries,” according to Keith Williams, press secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The meatingplace.com story said the USDA is investigating the matter and will report back to Japan.

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JBS-Swift confirmed the error and said the company would work to quickly allow the Grand Island plant to again make shipments to Japan. “We are fully cooperating with the United States Department of Agriculture in formulating a response to officials in Japan,” the company said in a statement. “This was not a food safety issue and the product in question was not a Specific Risk Material. Japan is a very important market for JBS and we are working quickly to reinstate Grand Island plant eligibility.”

Brazil-based JBS has its U.S. operations headquarters in Greeley.